Jay's Favorite Techdirt Posts Of The Week

from the favorites dept

Welcome to one and all to Jay's favorites of the week! Unfortunately, there were a lot of
great stories to look at this week, with triumphs and pitfalls all throughout. With so many choices, I had
to form a few committees to keep them all organized! So without further ado, we present to you the committee as well
as the stories that fit their themes!

Dissonance Committee

It seems that these guys were rather busy this week. Most of the top stories have to deal with politicians having hypocritical stances. The best one to exemplify this is our best Vice President in the world,
Joe Biden. It's amazing how he has truly become a thorn in the side of consumers by conflating the issue of piracy with theft
with nary a consideration into his own background of plagiarism. *sigh* Perhaps if Joe Biden would sit down with the kids and perform
his own study of their actions, he could see that the education angle won't work when people know something is not true. When even the artists say that file sharing helps them and doesn't hurt, it's time to get a new shtick.

Next comes the logical disconnect of our now favorite NZ Parliament Member,
Melissa Lee. Tweeting about your own (possible) infringement might not be the wisest thing, on the eve of
proclaiming your support for draconian three strikes rulings.

Now before this next one, I was going to link to the April 8th post regarding morals and copyright. But the new morals and copyright thread works just as well. The old discussion is about how morality and copyright don't go together. I think the new one does a great job of allowing you, the reader, to decide your own opinion on whether we need copyright or not (IMO, I've yet to see many artists, ya know, the ones copyright is meant to "protect", benefit from the copyright lengths, but that's enough out of me. :) )

Finally, the committee tells me that Bradley Manning still has a ton of support. These people that support him aren't just the protestors, they're the people that taught Obama Constitutional law! Sadly, if even the mainstream press can trump the government in regards to Manning, there is a problem in his treatment.

Never Buy Committee

When you buy a product for your own personal use, it kind of makes sense that you should be able to do with it whatever you'd want. Geohot found out the hard way that this is not always how things work. And now that he's settled with Sony, he's taking some heat from his supporters. They felt he was supposed to fight their fight. Although he announced that he's now boycotting Sony, that doesn't seem to be enough for many who were willing to support him in his legal battle. I don't think Geohot has let anyone down so moving on...

Amazon is fed up with licensing, which has a domino effect. Great story about how licensing deals for the RIAA may be too expensive and actually hurting their bottom line.

Perfect 10 gets owned, which never gets old. It sets new precedents, and tests safe harbors, which is always a good thing. Good job Google!

Taxpayer Abuse Committee

And, of course, ICE was busy again this week and these guys delivered some spectacular "diplomacy" in the form of a detainment they refused to call a detainment. Meanwhile, the guys in the back point me to some mixtapes I may want to look at. Yes, we live in 2011, the era of digital music, and people still sell mixtapes. Having the RIAA there along with police doesn't seem right if we're looking for real justice. Of course, by now don't they know that these kinds of raids and the takedowns don't work? I wonder what would happen if someone put their mind to defeating any part of the takedown procedure? Oh, wait... Damn, that was fast!

Dumb as Hell Committee

Sometimes, people make really bad decisions. We can only read them and hope not to make the same mistakes. Basically, if you (and your twin) are ever paid $160 million dollars by someone to go away, please do. The Winklevoss Twins have yet to learn this lesson. To add to the insanity are the people looking for a handout, from the people looking for handouts. Geez, totally classy in refiling the Facebook lawsuit.

Special mention goes to Jay Walker (no relation). He truly decided to hit the nuclear patent button a little prematurely, suing over 100 internet companies. I hope he fails miserably. Patent trolls may need love and affection, but I'm a true believer in tough love in these cases.

BAMF Committee

This committee had the best job. Basically, out of all of the stories, they had to find one badass who would stand up for the very ideals of liberty, justice, and freedom in a new era. They came back with a great article, that has a great story about the ONE MAN that stopped COICA to force a debate. No matter how you slice it, that's Bad Ass! And so, without further adieu, I bring to you, Senator Ron Wyden! He believes in more freedoms and, from the article, he talks about how he put in the Section 230 safe harbors. If not for him, the internet would be a very different place. I may not believe in all of his policies, but at least in regards to the internet, I agree with him. Rock on Wyden!

The Good bye Committee

Well, the guys have put together a great deal of information for you, the reader, to digest. They all hope you enjoy it. From me, to you, the spread of new information and interesting articles is paramount to actual learning. Enjoy the reads, and enjoy the rest of your weekend. :)